Last month I happened to watch Lovely to Look At, and so enjoyed the music that I went to Wikipedia to find out more about the film. I learned that this was a remake of the 1935 Roberta.
But there was some intrigue, for MGM bought Roberta in 1945 and kept it out of circulation until the 1970's so as not to compete with Lovely to Look At. I reviewed Roberta just last year, but just had to see it again, so last night went to Amazon Prime and had to pay $2.95 for this privilege. What a waste of money, for I today re-looked at that just-mentioned earlier posting and saw that You Tube has the full 1 hour 46 minute movie available for FREE.
In any case, both films mostly feature the music of Jerome Kern. The more memorable songs include Yesterdays (by Irene Dunne--by Kathryn Grayson), I Won't Dance (Fred Astaire---Marge and Gower Champion), Lovely to Look At (Astaire and Ginger Rogers---Irene Dunne and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.
I actually wrote about this song three years ago, Ever wonder about the title? Go to the lyrics and note that the singer is in love, but is blind to the truth. When your heart's on fire (the love part), smoke gets in your eyes. Mind you, nothing to do with real smoke. The lyricist is Otto Harbach (right, with Kern on the left).
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes was first performed in the 1933 musical Roberta, and was sung by Tamara Drasin (left).
It was recorded that year by Gertrude Niesen, with orchestral direction by Ray Sinatra, Frank's second cousin. On the B-side was Jealousy.
The first actual hit came in 1934 with Paul Whiteman. The vocal was performed by Bob Lawrence.
Then in 1935, from the film Roberta, here is Irene Dunne, my favorite version.
Kathryn Grayson's Smoke Get's In Your Eyes is also memorable:
While many dozens recorded Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, the one most people remember is by the Platters, in 1958, hitting #1 on Billboard. While Harbach praised this version, Kern's wife so disliked the rendition that she considered legal action to prevent its distribution.
The Platters formed in 1951, went through wholesale adjustments, caused by a range of problems ranging from prostitution to drugs to a long series of lawsuits. However, the group is still touring today, usually with The Drifters and The Coasters. Shows in Texas and Florida this month.
Let me end with Glenn Miller's Smoke Get's In Your Eyes because it was recorded at Abbey Road Studios (which began doing this in 1931--and here you thought the Beatles created this recording site) in 1944, but, with his sudden death, was only released in 1995, more than half a century later.
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